|
|
HARLETON, TEXAS
Harrison County,
East
Texas
FMs 1968 and 450
Hwy 154
15 miles NW of Marshall
Population:
260 (1990)
|
History
in a Pecan Shell
Founded about 1890, the town was first known as Fontana. The Paris,
Marshall and Sabine Railroad arrived in 1891 and in 1892 the population
was estimated at 175 persons when the community changed its name to
Harleton.
J. W. Harle, was a local sawmill owner who built a tram railroad from
Marshall.
Harleton had 360 people through the 1920s and 1930s. Even the abandoning
of the railroad in 1937 didn't adversely affect the town's growth,
which was 500 at the beginning of WWII.
The population did decline by nearly half during the war, but in 1946
a gas field was discovered, bringing the population up to 300. |
|
|
